To the best of my knowledge, distribution was never a problem for Jim Baen's Universe, as it was always intended as an online-only publication.
The initial launch was made possible by 'club members' who paid more (in some cases considerably more) than a standard subscription, in order to receive special benefits. This was never intended to be a long-term method of funding the magazine, and the lack of sufficient ordinary subscriber growth is the stated reason for the closure.
http://www.baens-universe.com/articles/Universe_Closing
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Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks
OTOH Baen also recently shut down Baen's Universe (magazine) in part because they could not get their distributor (Is it S&S? I Thought it was another of the big names...but I digress). They could not get their distributor to agree to decent terms. I think the distributor was demanding the same terms for the electronic mag as that made for Baen books.
Eric Flint did an article on it...if I remember correctly, BU wanted to expand distribution so they could reach more markets, but the distributor they had an agreement with said, "No, NO, NO." BU was always ebook or cd only--no print. Flint didn't say what Baen wanted to try only that with the current terms, it wouldn't work. So the magazine is shutting down early next year. The article mentioned they'd like to bring it back someday--with a different distribution plan and other things changed. (Pls note that the distribution issue was only ONE part of the reason they shut down and was not the whole article!)
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